MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

Merry Christmas to noncompliance

FEATURING 404 WASHINGTON AVENUE SIGNS

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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

The City of Miami Beach, like other cities in the United States, regulates the appearance of signage within its confines. Section 138-1 of the citys signage code states that, The purpose of this chapter is to permit signs that will not by their size, location, construction, number or manner of display, endanger the health, safety and general welfare of the public or the appearance of the city. It is also the purpose of this chapter to encourage signs that are architecturally aesthetic and compatible with the buildings they are placed on, to reduce traffic hazards and to preserve the right of free speech exercised through the use of signs. However, we have discovered that the Code Compliance Division of the Miami Beach Building Department does not regularly enforce the code in respect to temporary real estate and construction signs unless a private person complains. That is, the policy of the Building Department is selective enforcement. In other words, there appears to be a partial enforcement moratorium in respect to unpermitted signage. I believe that this policy in respect to signs that can easily be seen by the public is a sign of a similar policy in respect to enforcement of building codes which are not easily seen when and if implemented. Most tellingly, although real estate signs are supposed to have permit decals affixed to them, there is no such requirement for contractor signs, therefore the public cannot immediately see whether or not they are permitted. The city has an online permit system where permit records can be viewed. However, permits for signs do not appear there or elsewhere for online viewing; at least not to the best of my knowledgeCode Compliance officers have refused to respond to my request for immediate access to the database they may have. I had supposed that realtors may have pulled permits for many signs, such as the ones at 404 Washington Avenue here celebrated, but had failed to put the permit sticker on their signs. However, George Castell, Supervisor of the Code Compliance Division, said that there is no permit if it is not on the sign because the Code says each sign as to receive a permit. However that may be, Castell, whenever a person wants to know whether or not certain signs are permitted, courteously demands that formal complaints be filed via the city website even when the person does not wish to file a complaint against violators, and simply wishes to know if public officials are doing their jobs. And, people may be reluctant to file complaints because the most frequent complaint made by Miami Beach residents under the old regime was that they feared retaliation for filing complaints. Thus the system is kept opaque from the bottom up despite all the high-level rhetoric about transparency. Castell refers questions regarding the policies he follows to a spin doctor, whom I
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have not conferred with because I know that the first rule of city employment is not to criticize the city, and I do not need excuses for the hundreds of signs not in compliance. In my opinion, Castell, a devoted public servant who is a former U.S. Marine, is simply following orders, as are his Code Compliance officers. They are certainly not to blame for implementing a policy of noncompliance undoubtedly condoned if not devised at the highest level, i.e. by the citys manager, mayor, and commissioners. Perhaps the high officials will have the signage code repealed at the behest of the new mayor, businessman Philip Levine, whose opponent in the bitter mayoral race, former Commissioner Michael Gngora, proudly touted his efforts to regulate signage. However that may be, I take this opportunity to wish Noncompliance a Merry Christmas. May all violations be forgiven.

THE SO-CALLED LAW

Miami Beach, Florida, Code of Ordinances >> Subpart B - LAND DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS >> Chapter 138 - SIGNS >> ARTICLE I. - IN GENERAL .
Sec. 138-136. - Real estate signsMultifamily, commercial, industrial, vacant land. (a) Real estate signs located in multifamily, commercial, or industrial districts, are signs advertising the sale, lease or rent of the premises upon which such sign is located. Sign copy with prices is prohibited. (b) There shall be a maximum of one real estate sign permitted per street frontage. (c) The sign area for a multifamily sign shall not exceed four feet by four feet. The sign area for a commercial/industrial sign shall not exceed four feet by six feet . (d) Temporary real estate signs shall be removed within seven days of the sale or lease of the premises upon which the sign is located. (e) Special conditions for these real estate signs shall be as follows: (1) Real estate signs are not permitted on windows of apartment, multifamily buildings or individual offices. Detached signs shall have a setback of ten feet if lot is vacant, three feet if lot has improvements. Sign may be placed on structure or wall if structure or wall is less than three feet from property line. Height shall not exceed seven feet. (2) Only the information permitted on single-family residential real estate signs plus the following information may appear: a. Zoning information. b. Size of property and/or building. c. Permitted use of property. (3) No signs are permitted on public property. (4) Flat wall signs may be substituted with banner type signs. (5) Each individual sign shall receive a permit from the license department which shall charge a fee per sign as provided in appendix A.

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Shall receive a permit is interpreted by George Castell, Code Compliance Division Supervisor for The City of Miami Beach Building Department, to mean that the permit, in the form of a decal or sticker, must be affixed or stuck to the sign. Wherefore it follows that any real estate sign covered by the ordinance that does not bear a decal is not permitted, and will be awaiting a decal until it is received, and the violation will be cited only in the unlikely event that a private citizen complains that the sign has not received a permit decal during the indefinite enforcement moratorium period wherein public officials ignore obvious violations as a matter of policy. The existence of the enforcement moratorium is inferred from countless violations ignored; and it is supposed that since the city manager, the city mayor, and the city commission have been informed of the plethora of violations, and have done nothing about it, that they condone, for reasons they have declined to reveal, the lawless behavior at question. It is the belief of this author that this policy, superficial as to signage, is significant of a disregard of more substantial law by city officials charged with enforcing it.

IMPORTANT NOTICE
THE PUBLICATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT INTENDED AS A COMPLAINT AGAINST ANY PRIVATE PERSON OR ENTITY THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE IN VIOLATION OF ORDINANCES AS TO ITS SUBJECT MATTER, NOR DOES ITS AUTHOR EXPECT PUBLIC OFFICIALS TO WAIVE THEIR SOVEREIGN RIGHT NOT TO TAKE THE INITIATIVE WHEN THEY WITNESS OBVIOUS VIOLATIONS, AND TO BLAME SOMEONE ELSE FOR COMPLAINING WHENEVER CALLED UPON TO ENFORCE CODE.

THE MIAMI BEACH CODE VIOLATORS MOTTO Everybody Does It, Everybody Knows It, Nobody Cares

CONSTRUCTIVE SUGGESTIONS IGNORED TO DATE

1. Amend the temporary sign ordinance to require that permit decals be placed on or affixed to temporary real estate and construction signs, impose a mandatory minimum fine of $100 per sign for failure to do so within ten days after issuance of the permit, and provide that whistleblowers receive a fee of $50 for each violation reported regardless of the amount collected.
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2. Ordain that a permit fee of $30 be charged for each real estate and construction sign. 3. Require that all receipts for permits be coded for subcategories of the general permit category, e.g., temporary construction sign, temporary real estate sign, etc, so that important details and totals may be readily and regularly reported. 4. Require that all receipts for fines be coded for subcategories of the general permit category so that important details and totals may be readily and easily reported. 5. Require that information on all temporary real estate and construction sign permits, and citations for the violation of signage law, be posted to the Velocity online permit system or some other system in such a manner that the public may readily ascertain what signs have been permitted without filing a complaint. 6. Consider modifying the regulation of construction signs along fences so that large advertisements otherwise not allowed may be permitted for additional permit fees. 2013-12-24, Miami Beach, public domain

I love this sign in front of the building just south of 1034 Michigan Avenue. On December 11, I observed it patiently waiting to receive a permit decal. A Code Compliance officer was parked nearby.

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